Archive for the ‘Beaten Down Path’ Category

There are many games I played since my last review here. Many exceeded my expectations, many failed. There seems a draught of good games in the past four months. Don’t judge me; I do not play the horror genre. Otherwise this segment saw many good releases filled with mutants and hair rising work of the Devil. This is so told by my colleagues who enjoy the creeps.

The story starts where the previous one ended. Geralt now serves the king in the war along with his love Merigold. After the war gets over, he becomes a suspect in the assassination of the king, which becomes the primary plot. Geralt now seeks the murderer, to clear his name. As the game progresses you take help of the king’s benevolent spy Vernon Roche or the defamed elf Iorveth. The story develops as per your actions. This is classy “witcher”. Story wise Witcher 2 is better than its predecessor. While in the first part Geralt tries to get over his amnesia and remains disoriented in his story, in the sequel he’s far more focused. One would enjoy the storyline.

The gameplay in Witcher 2 is different from the first part. The combat technique has been brought back to general, which is easy. But the thing that made The Witcher such a hit was the swordplay. You’d have to hit the buttons at appropriate time to initiate a combo and Geralt finishes it. That was spectacular to watch and cold minded to play. But by bringing the crazy button hitting style combat, Witcher 2 has lost the previous charm. But that may be the only noticeable knockdown. Geralt can now NOT talk to everyone, which was very much annoying in the first game. Geralt can now NOT enter every household in the corner; another save from the annoyance. But Geralt can now find and loot everything he can think of in alchemy and crafting in everything he sees around. He can now find the coins in the fruit basket too! Another addition is the carriage capacity like in Stalker. This prevents Geralt to carry the world load of substances in his small pouch. Ha! There is no fast, group or strong style of combat as there were in the first part. Instead Geralt can unlock Berserk/ Heilopt/ Group-finisher move as per his path unlocked in the character upgrade. Geralt has a new adrenaline bar on the screen which is way too cool and worth a watch. To end the game, it’s shorter than The Witcher, as there are rarely any side quests. About 30 hours of playtime there. And you have to forgive and forget the conclusion. This I mention because I learned the story, and the ending is like the great TV series “LOST”- unsatisfying and naive to brew.

Take a look at the graphics of Witcher 2, you’ll be AMMAAAZED. CDPROJEKT has used everything that’s available on the God’s green earth in terms of bells and whistles. CD Projekt developed their own engine for the game, unlike the first installment which ran on a modified version of BioWare’s Aurora Engine. Even at the medium settings the game looks pretty much pretty. Thanks to the new Red Engine with Havok physics engine and Real support. The detailing is neatly done. The ambience and the lightings during the night are a bit bright compared to the first part. The cut-scenes use the in-game graphics for video instead of being external and independent. So if you squeezed a few bucks to settle for a mediocre graphics card, you won’t like what you see. But look apart, you got a nice rig, and Witcher 2 won’t give you a chance to look down.

Apart from lookey see in the game, what you hear is the best in any games produced (not sure about the horrors, because I never tried them). The background music when Geralt anticipates a fight will make your heart rate go gaga. Every sound you speaker (provided you got a nice pair of Creative soundmakers and above) makes is enough to keep you engaged to listen to it. Full marks for the sound.

The game is rated R for strong language and explicit visuals. I especially love Triss. In the meantime, you can also try Fable III, which released about the same time. But once you have played Witcher 2, you can easily ignore the garrulous release from Microsoft which is a failure before the glory of The Fable. Witcher 2: Assassins of the Kings is a fantastic game and a good bang for the hard earned bucks. CDPROJEKT has surely worked very hard for this. Although The Witcher was deadly in terms of combat, Witcher 2 has many things in its sleeve for the show.

If you have bought the game already, it’s because Geralt and CDPROJEKT have earned it. 8.5 / 10.

I feel like as if I’m the laziest person in this whole universe. I didn’t add any other entries for a long time even though I planned for some movies. I was away from online gaming for a whole long time. I wasn’t even excited about any new release. I continued playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 for more than two months. Even though Call of Duty is my all-time favorite series, I didn’t bother to buy and try it out. But, eh! Here I’m writing another epilogue of the most talked first person shooter of the year.

It’s 1968, the world is on the verge of destruction and war. You are Studies and Observations Group (SOG) operative Sgt Alex Mason, who’s tied to a chair and bombarded by questions by someone whose only voice rings your ears. As your unseen captor interrogates debriefing about the incidents, you start to remember them. What you remember, hence you play. You are set for the assassination of Fidel Castro in Cuba. But fate doesn’t like your company so you are captured by the Cubans and later handed over to a Russian Ultra-nationalist General Nikita Dragovich. He by-the-blood throws you in a prison in Vorkuta where you befriend with an ex Red Army named Viktor Reznov. One as usual perilous but lucky day, Viktor raises a war cry with the help of all other prisoners, and sets you free. You are then invited back to your Home by President JFK who authorizes assassination of Dragovich, because he’s building a devastating chemical weapon named Project Nova. You set course with Jason Hudson, Frank Woods and Bowman, who serve as your brothers-in-arms till the end.

Who painted this red?

Treyarch had worked upon a previous title in the same series- World at War. Activision was impressed and Treyarch got busy. Graphics wise, as I mentioned in my previous entry, it’s way good. But considering the game has half-a-kidney-selling hardware requirement, it needs an improvement. The character details are very good, a standout improvement in the current genre. The character shadows, specular and geometry are very neatly designed. But the environment is not an eyeful. The textures are dull and somewhat lifeless. In a jungle or wild vegetation, there should be enough places for you say “oh snap”. But apart from a couple of positions in a vast world, I can say- bring your damn cameras home. But inside of a city is just spectacular. It’s like coming to Chinatown in evening.

In default version of 1.0 installation, there are many bugs which causes a slowdown, frame skips and sound lags. I even heard there are several connection hassles, spawn points, matchmaking and map issues in multiplayer mode. But update 1.04 fixes it all. Thank god, the update was out by the time I played it.

HQ, there is a bee coming to sting me

Overall sound is good. But I was expecting more bang for the buck. If you compare Medal of Honor or Bad Company 2 in sound of weapons, you will feel like shooting in a sewer. But the voice overs are good. Sam Worthington speaks for Mason. Now I feel like an avatar. Then there’s Ed Harris for Hudson and Gary Oldman for Reznov. One addition to this game is the background music. Sometimes there are fast rocks or similar and some stages there’re tracks. I must say to my reader folks that beware and keep it away from being played by kids. It has a mature ESRB because of intense violence, blood, gore and strong language.

Now the biggest thing- gameplay. There are a variety of activities. You run like crazy inside the prison, go gaga over the roofs of Cuba, drape your wares in snows of Russia, fly a Hind in a mission of raining death, Burn rubber by riding a motorcycle to freedom, Provide an aerial support for your troops on ground and cut through Cong where you are pounced upon occasionally. One thing that is common in all the stages are unless you go ahead, enemies will continue erupting up. In the Nam and Cong missions the number will be somewhat close to a small country. But as long as you cut ahead, constantly reloading your dingy gun, help from your co with some luck of not getting hit in head, you’ll do fine. It was a matter of time, I became wise, did so and learned it.

Look pop! Human Torch from Fantastic Four!

There is neat detailing on the functioning of the weapons. There are a hoard of weapons to choose from like MP5K, Skorpion, Spectre, M16, Gail IL, G11, Colt Commando, RPK, M60, Crossbow, LAW, China Lake and Grim Reaper. My experience says to stick to Gail, AK74, M14, STG, SPAS, crossbow and PSG1. If possible, don’t pick up Dragunov because it has a high reload time. FAMAS has low accuracy but utilitarian and Mac11 has a fast firing rate.

One thing I missed is lack of a sniping stage. There’s a solo stage of you playing one man sneak army, but it doesn’t fill my heart. Another mission I feel useless is a stage where you fly a supersonic jet and guide fellows below. It’s just point and click and nothing else. The overall gameplay time is short. It took me around 8 hours to finish in a regular setting. Playing the vietcong mission, I felt like playing back CoD World at War. There is also no tactical mission where you NEED to mark it green n it goes boom. It’s just an option in some stages.

Bring u some dead eh, you say, Mr President?

After the game is finished a Zombie stage is unlocked. I find it so invigorating that I sometimes feel it is the best part of the game. But it’s sometimes. You play as any character from JFK, Castro, Robert McNamara and Nixon. Difficulty level is very high here. You are in a floor where there are 6 windows. The zombies drag there feet towards the windows, break it and as soon as they see you they RUN. Either you run putting your feet up the head or make a hole in their rotten brains so that they can achieve their evanescence and you your earnings. You repair the broken windows again and again for which you earn points, also you earn points for every headshot. Then you use these points to buy new weapons and ammo and go out to new areas, this goes on. I never found out what lies beneath because, I was metaphorically hiding under my blanket (also I got killed).

When you are the descendant of a great family, it’s implied and matter of pride for you to keep it alive. The same thing has happened with Black Ops. All releases in the Call of Duty series have been a content of Buzz. The way the series has kept the great American History alive, it’s stupendous. When CoDBO was out for the first time, there was so much hue and cry, I thought it’d consume Medal of Honor by a black hole. But to me it is Honor vs Duty. Medal of Honor has excelled in many features. Over one and half million copies have been sold on the first week of its release and it’s sweetly accepted throughout.Currently Treyarch is developing the expansion for this named as First Strike which features 5 new maps.

Had there been more mission variety and tactical gameplay additions, Call of Duty Black Ops would have been a blockbuster of all time. But it’s nevertheless. To conclude, with a grind teeth I give it an 7.5. I need new mechanics of the gameplay and less or no vietcong missions. Next time I play an Eastern history, I might think my mouse as a grenade and throw it on my screen where they emerge from. Now I sincerely hope and wait for the next name to come.

Hey ya! I’m back with the 2nd installment of my recent Call of Duty series review. It’s high time I take you through Call of Duty: World at War. It’s different from its predecessor, unlike which, it’s not a modern shooter. Call of Duty franchise from the beginning was a WW II shooter. Although after a bit diversion in Modern Warfare, it’s back to square one. Here, you are in midst of WW II invasion from the American side to Japan as well as Russian side to Germany. We all know the story. Call of Duty has relived those historic moments through all of its games. This time also we are going to see all those again.

The game is published by Activision Blizzard which has given us recently Blur and goin to load us up with Diablo III soon. Developers of the game Treyarch, which previously made me say “achtung baby” by one of the best game version of Bond- Quantum of Solace, not disappointed me again by much. They took some parts from earlier CoD series and some parts from CoD MW, and they gave us a gore, blood thirsty Historic First Person Shooter. You will face an enormous number of resistances. And believe me, when I say enormous, I MEAN enormous. At times you will wonder as if the whole fucking country is at large to take a shot at you.

You take part with your band of brothers against the Bonzai raiders and advance through huts, temples, rivers, trenches and shooting plethora of them. You will have bayonets and flamethrowers all along side with you which are a new addition to World at War. But using them to kill is difficult. Flamethrower is unlimited but less deadly and covers less ground. So, if the place you are looking at in a perplexed stance is not made out of dry grass, then you are out of luck. But, if you are lucky, you will find a sniper rifle, and you will say- “sweeeet jesus.” Missions are quite fast paced. If you sit as duck to pick the gonzo one by one, luck is on their side with punching a hole through your big head with helmet. Enemies will pounce upon you as lions on a deer. They will shoot like cold hearted bastards and you will have a no chance to react even. You go too fast, get stabbed by the knives or by a lame looking, not so advanced barrel-shaped machine gun. You get too slow, they will take their time, and shoot you from miles. At any time, the average you to resistance ratio will be 1:10. It’s better to NEVER EVER pick up the bloody Japanese weapons. Always arm yourself with your weapons or if possible German too! Picky brilliant bastards are they. Superior engineering that time, and they have not stopped in our time too!

And the best part- after completing the game, you will unlock a Nazi Zombie killing stage. You will be in a room with several windows with several of dead Krauts dragging their feet towards you and getting to your room through the windows. Just like the movies, you have to welcome them by headshots and repair the windows temporarily till they break in again. You get points for each headshots and windows repaired. With these points, you buy more weapons and advance to deeper levels. This is one of the most gruesome and challenging levels of the game. Although bonus, it’ll serve your purpose like cream on a cake.

The graphics is just something, you can’t complain about. This is the series, where the graphics, tone, environment, camera, in game movies are at par with any of the best looking games out there (Curse you Spiderman Series!!!) you will get a feel of the WW II environment with enough environment detailing. Thanks to Shader Model 3.0. Throughout each level you are accompanied by a superior officer who sets the emotional tone through well-acted dialogue. The vengeful, spitfire Russian pumps up your adrenaline to intoxicating levels, while the grim, determined American provides a sobering influence. They are well balanced. This is added by the real World War II footages, strategic locations and advancements map. The game from both perspective shows you the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of one of the most vengeance filled, horrid human battle in history.

Mission variety is not like Modern Warfare, but it’s enough to keep you engaged. You will shoot at other ships and fighter planes hovering over the Atlantic or the Pacific (God! I can’t remember). Missions are hard and full of bloodbaths. Modern Warfare fans like me will be disappointed. There is no story except being a part of the history. There’s no character involvement. This is the thing that makes you attached to the game. See- Brothers in Arms series, Call of Duty MW and MW2, Bad Company 2. You will be jubilant to see your objectives succeed, if you play the character, which I missed in this game. I’m a Call of Duty avid fan. I’ve played each version more than once. But this one is the exception. It never occurred to me that I was playing Call of Duty. Where is the charm that was once present? Where is the brotherhood, which made me be throughout the battle? They are gone… The Japs missions are frustrating. I wondered where from this small country this much of soldiers erupted? God is witness to my act, that I just simply prayed him to get me over with the Japs missions already. You get a taste of despair at so much of destruction and many of your fellow soldiers not being rescued.

It’s quite popular still now, even though it’s more than a year old. It’s currently charted at 3rd spot in most played games. But it can never be the same as Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Still, though World at War lacks the freshness that made Modern Warfare such a hit, it nevertheless provides a hearty, filling meal-one that shooter fans are sure to savor. You will be moaning at your PC and your luck for buying this game out of your pocket money, if you had brought it expecting it to live up to its predecessor. But if you are looking just a fast paced, deadly campaign with lots of blowing brains out, then you will be thrilled as never. I don’t give a damn about what others say. My freedom of speech is telling me to give this one a bloody 7.5/10. Don’t grind your teeth now. You ain’t the only Call of Duty fan out there. I’ve the right to speak my heart and you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against my perception of the game.

AHA! The End! Hurray.. Hasta la Vista baby! With one more CoD trick in my sleeve, I bid adieu but, I must say this- “I will be back!”

You all must be willing to ask me about why in the god’s name I have written this 2 year old game review. My answer is simple- That’s because it’s one of the best games available on planet on PC version. This has a high replay value. I’m just crazy about this one. Don’t worry. I am planning to include the latest 3 reviews of the Call of Duty Series.

Let’s start with this one. First things first. If you’ve been living under a rock, and have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to know that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter, developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty video game series, excluding expansion packs, and is followed by a direct sequel, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While there is a much better hue and cries for the multiplayer version of this edition, I’d stick to only Single player version. The game breaks away from the World War II setting of previous games in the series and is instead set in modern times. God bless Infinity Wards for realizing WW II games are a bit worn off, with we having more pressing international matters at hand. In reality we can’t get these starred terrorists, at least we can shoot their brains out in a game. Good thinking, eh!

The story is set in fictional near future where a radical leader has staged an execution order against president of an unnamed country and another ultranationalist causing a civil war in Russia. The whole set is staged in Middle East. The mission is seen from the prospective of US Marine Corps and British SAS Commandoes.

You get loads of modern weaponry to shoot bad guys. The game’s move to modern warfare introduces new weapons and technology. Equip yourself with You-name-it-they-have-it collections of the M4A1 carbine,M40A3 Sniper Rifle Reg Scope the M203 grenade launcher, the AN/PEQ-2 Target Pointer for use in conjunction with night vision goggles, the MP5SD submachine gun, and the FGM-148 Javelin portable anti-tank guided missile. Weapons from fallen foes can be picked up to replace weapons in a player’s arsenal. Players also have additional abilities, including a grenade launcher attachment, claymores with tripwire-like detonation, C-4, night-vision goggles, and the ability to call in airstrikes and an attack helicopter.

Each stage is uniquely designed. Thus the gameplay differs each stage. You play the role of several characters which overlap. You get to know the character, and fall in love with them. No stage is alike. In the first stage you sneak and break your ways through a ship to retrieve a nuclear paper and then you run like hell when you realize the ship is about to blow. In another stage you shoot from an attack helicopter using 3 types of guns with the help of a night vision goggle, where your chances of error and omission are as high as Lindsey Lohan’s skirt. You have to run as it’s the end of the world when a helicopter tries to pierce you by its mini-gun. You feel like hell’s raining upon to you. You don’t think twice like James Bond and look for a cover. Run after your dreaded target and blow the onlooker’s face off on your way. The best of all is a sniper stage where you team up with stubborn, confident, skilled cigar smoking Captain Price and later be him. Now it’s time for a trip down memory lane. At a point your superior gets hurt and you have to carry him up and down to the rendezvous point and wait till your pick up arrives. You pass through jackheaded soldiers shooting fiercely at you, broken buildings, mad canines, near radioactive areas, jump the walls, duck the windows, place the claymore, and wait nearby an amusement park wheel picking up the deadbeats one by one with your dragunov till either you or your bullets or the ETA of your inbound helicopter, which takes ages to come, runs out. I found myself going back and playing these missions once the game was over just to experience a different challenge. Not to mention that blowing stuff up with a 105 mm cannon, while you circle the battlefield, is a whole lot of fun.

Let me come to the looks & talks. We all care for it. Who doesn’t! Especially I care for it for I’ve burnt a hole in my pocket to install the right hardware for this game. Well, it paid! Call of Duty 4 uses a propriety game engine that features dynamic lighting, depth of field, rag doll and environmental physics and just about every other whistle and bell you can think of. Everything is incredibly detailed; vehicles, weapons, uniforms, buildings, all of it is modeled so realistically that I found myself in the midst of several intense fire fights, either failing my objective or getting killed because I was looking in wonder at all the detail. Characters have the most realistically implemented motion capture I have ever seen in a game, period. Graphically, the game is the top of the heap. There is none better. Spic n Span environment and designs and voice makeover makes this one full rated value for my money. And you don’t need to sell a kidney and an eye for the hardware. Just a GB of RAM with a decent processor and a 8600GT graphics card should do the trick for you play it at fantastic looks.

Along the way, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments where you’ll look around the room for someone to whom you can say, “I can’t believe that just happened.” In a world filled with war games in which the good guys come out unscathed and the world is left at total peace, Call of Duty 4 will wake you up like a face full of ice water. Unlike the XBOX counterpart, the PC version has attained an unimaginable respect and popularity. What’s not to like here? The worldwide average for this game is 9.4- An elite status. High-quality story mode packs in a lot of thrilling and unexpected moments. The single-player campaign is over in a flash, but the high quality of that campaign and its terrific multiplayer options make Call of Duty 4 a fantastic package. While many other games try for a Hollywood block-buster feel, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare pulls it off like no one else ever has and does so in great fashion.

Verdict? Considering the single player mode, although short, my points goes for everything. Absolutely everything is perfect. Now don’t skip your heartbeat like me while I was playing it, for giving this great game a perfect score- 10/10.

End of my never-ending review. Time for a rest to my hands and brain. Now, where is my coffee?

What I say: Just think as you see in the movies what would happen to a Nissan 350z going at 150 mph and gets hit by a rocket. Now experience that by playing Blur. This game has brought us the long sought game called after Twisted Metal Series. Although Crash Day from Atari came out with some new thrills it didn’t last long as it was unresponsive and limited. This is your answer to all those calls which were for destruction by speed.

The graphics is jaw-dropping. Seriously- I’ve not seen this good graphics since GRID. The world details, vehicle detail, special effects, reflection, shader modelling all the things are neat to the perfection. Sometimes, you are bound lesser to the race and more to the track. Add sound to to that experience something that soothes you out. Although the countdown thuds at the beginning of a race really wore me out.

Here also, all you got to do is race. This not a street race. This is simulation. Pure GT track. There are 63 events to participate in, 9 bosses to grind your nose with. Three types of events- racing, destruction and checkpoint. In racing you race along with 19 of your not-so-friendly clan while picking up the power ups from the track and using it for your own good. In destruction, before your timer runs out you get to hit your opponents, but with only Bolts. In Checkpoint, it’s like the checkpoint race in NFS Most Wanted or any Time Lap, but only 2 additions- Collect Nitro, so that you won’t slow down and collect Stopwatches so that your timer will slowdown.

You did a mistake, BAM! You end up losing one of your health point. You remain busy too much watching the roads ahead, You get hit by a bludgeoning Shunt. You watch your rear view mirror for a bolt, you get blasted by a mine bursting prematurely. There are 8 types of power ups- Shunt, Barge, Mine, Shock, Nitro, Bolt, Shield, Repair. Mostly inspired from the most popular game ever- Mario. Power-ups are the most important element to master for any Blur driver. Whether it’s firing a deadly Shunt at your opponent to flip him out, or sneakily laying Mines around the track, effective use of power-ups is absolutely vital to achieving victory in Blur. And yes, you can defend yourself from attacks, with the combination of these.

The early portions of the single-player campaign make it easy to learn how to drive on the fly, but the challenges become stiffer once you get deeper into the game. Each race you have to earn lights. Have certain no of lights in your bag, you get your passport to the next boss event qualifiers. Each race you have 3 objectives. Securing a top 3 position, passing though certain heavenly 12 gates and keeping your fans happy. Passing through the gates, is hard cos from a gate to another there are sharp turning and unless you had forgotten to hit your break pedal, you are descended back to an unharmonious drowning of crowd cheers. Keeping your fans happy is a Herculean task. Good luck with your fanfare.

There are variety of cars to unlock as you move ahead, and increase your fans database. Some have fine grips (Morgan Freeman), some likes to skid along the marks(Vin Diesel) and the some others like to play it wild (John Travolta). And there are Balanced of all (Al Pacino). Oh boy. We got a whole Hollywood here. They all handle differently. Unless you zooming on an A Class or dragging on an entry level with a D Class, you forget about being the next Keiichi Tsuchiya. Cornering is not easy. You use your brake just before entering, you are side faced with the boundaries. Use hand brakes, and you get spinned on the chips. Maneuvering is realistic, so hard. You can’t show off like Tokyo Drift! Everything is about pace.

The tracks are just as varied as the objective types, making each race feel unique. One ridiculous track takes place directly behind the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, where one lousy turn could see you tumbling off a cliff. Another track takes place on the hilly streets of San Francisco, and as long as you don’t mind slamming your undercarriage repeatedly against the ground, it’s tons of fun swerving through this iconic city. There’s also a one-lap course that takes place on a mountain. You have to navigate narrow, winding roads at top speeds, desperately trying to make it to the finish line in one piece. Because of the diversity in the track types, you need to plan a strategy ahead of time. Certain courses have so many tight corners that you need a car that’s good at drifting, while others have dirt shortcuts that beg for an off-road vehicle. The assortment of tracks makes it interesting to play these courses again and again as you attempt to unlock all the rewards.

Whatever the other critics say about this one, I ain’t satisfied with it. That may be due to my not-so-fondness towards the GT racers (except NFS Underground). The races are hard to win even on an easy difficulty. You’ll be in nose whirl of water for finishing it. Yet it is addictive. I don;t know why I kept coming back to this- Clearly I didn’t enjoy the racing. It was to see what more cars can be in your sleeve. The rewards system makes it difficult to put this racer down. Not for me saying, but for you Blur could be fun to control and you can lose hours slamming into enemies and racking up fans, always coming back for one more race before you turn the system off and walk away. Immense yourself into the destructive (Twisted Metal)ish game-play with sore-to-to-the-eyes graphics while occasionally flipping the stones. No need to take a shot of adrenaline cos, this one is enough to pump your veins for days. Not for me, but just for you.